Below it was an epitaph. "To those who gave all. Always remembered. Never forgotten. Rothchild thanks you."
Wind whistled through the trees.
"I never did get to thank you for what you and the rest did," Kira said. "You saved a lot of lives that day. I know you had a choice. It couldn't have been easy making the one you did."
His crew’s lives. Or Rothchild's.
It had been a selfless decision. They could have run. There had been time.
Kira might not remember the final moments, but she did remember that.
"I'll never forget," she finished.
Diesel's hover chair stopped beside her. "Do you still sing?"
Kira dusted the snow off her hands and rose. "Not for a long time."
"I remember you singing a requiem for the dead after each battle. We'd raise our glasses, and you'd serenade the departed. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard."
That's how she remembered it too. Every memorial. Every remembrance ceremony. Until singing was no longer a thing of joy but rather an expression of loss and grief.
"How about it, Nixxy? Will you sing for them?"
Will you sing for me, Diesel seemed to be asking.
Kira's gaze landed on the eternal flame. She gathered herself. Sound spilled from her lips, coming effortlessly for the first time in a long time.
With the softly falling snow and the rustle of tree branches as her accompaniment, Kira gave herself over to the song she chose. One of farewell and hope for tomorrow.
Every note helped her shed the layers of grief. Every verse lessened the burden she felt like she'd been carrying forever.
By the time the last note fell, it brought with it a feeling of relief. Catharsis.
Kira set a hand on Commander Berry's grave. "Though we part, it's not with heavy hearts but rather gratefulness for the time we spent together."
Those were the words he'd given them during every remembrance ceremony. It felt right to give them back to him now.
Kira dropped her hand. "Why did you bring me here, Diesel?"
She looked back to find Diesel's gaze fastened on the Curs' holograms.
"You always were perceptive, Nixxy. Never one to miss much."
Kira checked on Graydon, finding him closer than she'd left him.
"I always told myself that if I ever saw you again, I'd give you the truth of what happened that day," Diesel said.
Something tugged at Kira's senses. A whisper of metallic ice and acidic rain.
Tsavitee taint.
"What truth is that?" Kira asked, feeling almost numb.
"Rothchild's truth. My truth."
Everything in Kira stilled as his meaning came clear. She shook her head in immediate rejection. "No."
"God as my witness, Kira, I didn't mean to," Diesel whispered in a tormented voice.
